title: Impaired empathic abilities and reduced white matter integrity in schizophrenia.
abstract: Empathic abilities are impaired in schizophrenia. Although the pathology of schizophrenia is thought to involve disrupted white matter integrity, the relationship between empathic disabilities and altered white matter in the disorder remains unclear. The present study tested associations between empathic disabilities and white matter integrity in order to investigate the neural basis of impaired empathy in schizophrenia. Sixty-nine patients with schizophrenia and 69 age-, gender-, handedness-, education- and IQ level-matched healthy controls underwent diffusion-weighted imaging. Empathic abilities were assessed using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). Using tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS), the associations between empathic abilities and white matter fractional anisotropy (FA), a measure of white matter integrity, were examined in the patient group within brain areas that showed a significant FA reduction compared with the controls. The patients with schizophrenia reported lower perspective taking and higher personal distress according to the IRI. The patients showed a significant FA reduction in bilateral deep white matter in the frontal, temporal, parietal and occipital lobes, a large portion of the corpus callosum, and the corona radiata. In schizophrenia patients, fantasy subscales positively correlated with FA in the left inferior fronto-occipital fasciculi and anterior thalamic radiation, and personal distress subscales negatively correlated with FA in the splenium of the corpus callosum. These results suggest that disrupted white matter integrity in these regions constitutes a pathology underpinning specific components of empathic disabilities in schizophrenia, highlighting that different aspects of empathic impairments in the disorder would have, at least partially, distinct neuropathological bases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Shogoin-Kawaracho 54, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan.
authors.forename: Junya
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fujino
authors.forename: Hidehiko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Miyata
authors.forename: Genichi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sugihara
authors.forename: Manabu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kubota
authors.forename: Akihiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sasamoto
authors.forename: Hironobu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fujiwara
authors.forename: Toshihiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Aso
authors.forename: Hidenao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fukuyama
authors.forename: Toshiya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Murai
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D016880:Anisotropy; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009413:Nerve Fibers, Myelinated / Q000473:pathology*; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: ACC; ANOVAs; ATR; CC; Corpus callosum; DTI; EC; Empathic Concern; Empathy; FA; FMRIB Software Library; FS; FSL; Fantasy; GM; HPD; IFOF; IRI; Inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus; Interpersonal Reactivity Index; JART; MNI; Montreal Neurological Institute; PANSS; PD; PT; Personal Distress; Perspective Taking; Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale; SCID; Schizophrenia; Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders; TBSS; TFCE; WM; White matter; analyses of variance; anterior cingulate cortex; anterior thalamic radiation; corpus callosum; diffusion tensor imaging; fractional anisotropy; gray matter; haloperidol; inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus; the Japanese Version of the National Adult Reading Test; threshold-free cluster enhancement; tract-based spatial statistics; white matter